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Ex-Samsung employees who shared chip secrets with China get jailed
Seven ex-Samsung employees were found guilty and jailed for illegally obtaining and sharing chip-related technology with companies based in China. Before proceeding, you should know that SEMES Co. is a Samsung subsidiary that produces equipment used in chipset and display manufacturing process.
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The Suwon District Court sentenced a former researcher of SEMES to four years in prison for illegally obtaining technologies related to semiconductor cleaning equipment and using those technologies to build similar tools destined for exports to China.
In addition to this, a company that was founded by the researcher to produce semiconductor cleaning equipment using SEMES technology was fined 1 billion won, or roughly $768,000, by the Suwon District Court, according to the ruling released on Monday.
Furthermore, six other ex-employees of SEMES were also found guilty of involvement in the technology theft and received sentences of up to 2½ years in prison. As per the WSJ report, a Samsung spokeswoman referred questions for comment to the subsidiary, while lawyers representing the seven weren’t disclosed by the court.
According to the report, the information obtained by the ex-employees included equipment-design blueprints and a list of related components extracted through photos and misappropriated files from 2018 to 2020. Notably, some stolen info involved technologies covered by South Korean laws protecting “national core technologies.”
“It will also create an outcome where competing foreign firms easily steal technology that Korean companies have built up with great effort under the guise of talent recruitment,” the court ruling read.
Using the stolen information, the individuals created 24 semiconductor cleaning equipment blueprints and sold 14 cleaning machines to competing Chinese firms and a Chinese research institute whose names were withheld, according to the court ruling.
Compared to the US, South Korea, and Taiwan, China is years behind in producing advanced semiconductors. The US export restrictions have left the Chinese chip industry without essential foreign technologies. China has spent billions building up its own semiconductor companies.
Samsung’s latest foldable phones come with Google Messages by default. The company has now revealed the reason behind this move on Galaxy devices. Samsung says Google Messages replaced Messages to foster RCS adoption.
According to AndroidAuthority, a source explained Samsung’s decision to switch to Google Messages as the default messaging app. The recently released Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 come with Google Messages with RCS enabled by default.
Looks like promoting Google Messages on Galaxy devices will boost RCS adoption. Samsung Messages isn’t already installed on newer phones. However, one’s stopping you from getting it on your Galaxy from the Galaxy Store.
While many apps support the RCS feature, Google Messages offer the best user experience. Making it a default messaging app is an effort to boost the adoption of RCS tech. Apple is also preparing to bring RCS chat functionality to iMessage for iPhones.
What Samsung source said:
- Even if messaging apps follow the RCS standard, the availability may be limited depending on which app the other party uses. That’s why we decided to make Google Messages the common messaging platform, allowing Galaxy users to communicate more freely. This also enables a messaging app to respond to changes of the RCS standard more quickly and efficiently.
Previously, Samsung devices launched in the US came with two messaging apps. This time, the company has removed the Samsung Messages. During the first setup, users are notified that Google Messages is the default messaging application.
Samsung SmartThings gained the international standard ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification. The company has officially announced this major development in its global connected living platform.
SmartThings received ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification for information security management systems. Certification reiterates that the SmartThings Cloud operates per international standards.
To be certified, a company has to meet the standard across a total of 123 detailed items, including policies for information security, access control for information assets, and incident response.
SmartThings receiving the ISO 27001 certification is the result of our sustained focus on the protection of information in a hyper-connected world with exponentially increasing intelligence.
Seungbum Choi, Executive Vice President and Head of Device Platform Center at Samsung Electronics said “this is just another step in our drive to fortify the platform’s security. We will continue to find new ways to ensure that SmartThings’ personalized services are provided even more safely.”
BSI Prez says that they have recognized that the operation capability and security level of Samsung SmartThings is excellent. It will further boost trust in the SmartThings platform and strengthen business competitiveness.
ISO 27001 is the leading global standard for ISMSs and was established by the International Organization for Standardization. It provides companies with guidance to manage the risks to information assets systematically and achieve information protection goals.
Samsung Health app integrated the Dr.diary (Doctor Diary) glycated hemoglobin feature. The blood sugar management platform announced the launch of its glycated hemoglobin estimation functionality on Samsung’s Health application.
According to ETNews, Dr.diary announced the integration of a glycated hemoglobin level feature in Samsung Health. Galaxy users will now be able to check the estimated glycated hemoglobin level provided by Doctor Diary.
To activate the feature, Health app users will have to permit certain conditions of data in the Blood Sugar service. It is worth noting that glycated hemoglobin is a key figure for diabetes diagnosis, which users will find worth using in the Health app.
Established in 2017, Dr.diary is a blood sugar management platform. It analyzes and predicts the changes in glycated hemoglobin using its own algorithm. Earlier this year, the firm secured a patent for “glycated hemoglobin estimation based on blood sugar data table.”
Song Je-yoon, CEO of Doctor Diary, said, “With our predicted glycated hemoglobin level prediction algorithm being installed in Samsung Health, more people will be able to recognize their glycated hemoglobin level and manage their health more efficiently.”
Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a standardized numerical value of the percentage of hemoglobin, such as hemoglobin, which has been glycated by glucose. Glycated hemoglobin reflects the average blood sugar level over the past 2-3 months.
Samsung Health (with Wear OS Galaxy Watch) users can conveniently check their estimated glycated hemoglobin level within the app and use this information to manage their blood sugar levels through diet and exercise.